


ReRecovery

by TheAmazingOntos



Series: Change [15]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Magic Revealed, Mild Language, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:15:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28292949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmazingOntos/pseuds/TheAmazingOntos
Summary: Checking out of the hospital and going home. Again.
Series: Change [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960861





	ReRecovery

"You hit me," I say in a stunned voice, with my eyes open almost comically wide at Shivani, who at least has the grace to look embarrassed. She can feel the shock and betrayal coming from me, and it accentuates the guilt she carried around for the last couple of weeks. 

"I thought that you decided I was a monster for killing that man, and it made me mad at you. Then you come sit next to me like nothing's wrong, fall asleep and drool on me, and I'm supposed to take that calmly? No, so I hit you and walked out. I know now that your life was in danger, but I didn't then, and I can't change anything now. I'm sorry, okay?" She asks, while avoiding eye contact. 

Fortunately for her, and definitely not for me, I really, really like her(I have a history of falling in love hard and fast(don't judge)). I tell her, "I can't hold it against you, no matter how shocking it was. Just try not to do it again, unless I really deserve it?"

She walks me outside, as I'm still unsteady on my feet after three weeks in a deprivation tank, and we meet the rest of my small circle of friends. Austin and Alyssa are leaning against a wall, and Emily is toying with a flame, having it jump through hoops of its own kind. Standing near to the door is Vidya, waiting to see me off again, with her bright smile visible from across the room. 

"Good to see you've survived the hospital again. It's not that I don't like you, but there's easier ways to come visit me," she says, while wrapping me in a heartfelt embrace. Shivani doesn't react to this, as they both got to know each other during my time in the tank. I suspect that some embarrassing stories were traded, and whatever else women discuss about the men they both know. 

I don't have an answer to that, so I simply hold onto her to keep from falling over. Then a speaker squawks to life, summoning her to another patient, and she lets go and walks off. Before she disappears back into the hospital completely, she turns and waves at the both of us. We both return it, and continue our escape.

"She seems like a nice person," Alyssa murmurs in an undertone to Austin, craning her head back to look at his face.

"That's because Vergil has a way of bringing out the best in people, darling, except for you, it seems," he says, before he puts his arms around her and leans forward for quick kiss.

"Nice to see you made it out. That means Austin and I don't have to raise an undead army to go in after you, which is a long, uncomfortable and boring process. It tends to make me want to hurt people, especially the ones who made it necessary," Emily says, pretending to be angry for a moment. The effect is spoiled by the lack of a facial twitch, which she normally has when she's emotional(by her standards, which are a lot lower than most people). "Jade wanted to be here, but he can't get away from his garage. He'll try to swing by later, to see what new drink you want to mix."

"Unless he's not allowed to drink, then we get to drink while you watch. But that aside, how are you feeling? Really?" Austin inquires, with his serious look on his face(he looks constipated, but don't tell him or he'll stop doing it) and a hand over Alyssa's mouth. 

"I feel like hammered shit. This is the worst hangover in existence. Take me to the Ministry, and lock the bar behind me," I slur, pretending to be drunk instead of drained. They don't need to worry themselves anymore, and I owe them a chance to celebrate. The needs of the many outweigh the exhaustion of one, and I tend to make a very good Lynchburg lemonade. 

\-----

The bar is indeed locked after we enter, and I take my position behind the counter. Shivani and Alyssa look almost excited, thinking that they will get to see me juggling bottles and doing the kinds of tricks that have no place in real bartending. It's anticlimactic when I just get some glasses out and start pouring ingredients in by eye, because they expected a show and they're not getting one. 

I mix five Johnny Silverhands and set them on the bar for everyone. Emily looks at the drink, at me, back to the drink and is about to say something when I interrupt her with, "That's not for you. It's for Jade, he'll be here any minute. This is for you."

She watches as I prepare two hurricane glasses full of ice cream and strawberry syrup, garnished with actual strawberries, and slowly relaxes. She's been as concerned as Shivani that my memories or personality wouldn't make it through intact, but she's got her reassurance now. I'm still a good host, and almost prophetic to people who don't know how I read the behaviour of others.

The proof comes through the door just as I set the glasses down. Jade and his daughter walk in, and he comes straight to the bar. I point to the remaining Silverhand, as well as the strawberry hurricane, and they take them up without question(he's been on the receiving end often enough to not worry about it). 

"What's going on, Vergil? Everything alright now? If the hospital getting on with a bunch of asshole thing, let me know, we'll go deal with them," he says as he raises the glass to his lips, then hesitates.

"This one doesn't have the chilli powder in it. I wouldn't mix yours, leave it ready on the bar for you before you got here, and forget about you and and pepper. Relax. Now, poppet, how are things with you?" I say to his daughter. 

"I'm mostly fine, Uncle Vergil, but dad ran off my boyfriend yesterday, so I'm pissed at that. But how are you feeling?" she asks, in between shovelling ice cream into her mouth. 

"You're doing that to piss me off, but it's not working. Now, how old are you again, nine?"

"I'm fifteen, and you know that. Everybody in school already have boyfriends or girlfriends except me. Tell daddy to stop treating me like a child, please," she finishes, flashing me a desperate look. 

"So, Jade, tell me what you can about this boy, and why you chased him off last week," I say, while refilling everyone's drinks. "Most importantly, why you didn't wait until today, so everyone could roast him before we sent him running. That would have made every boy think twice before trying to get with her."

"Ew, Uncle Vergil, he wasn't like that. He behaved nice and didn't try to push things. He wanted to take things slow," she says, blushing furiously. 

"Of course he did, because he said so. Poppet, as hard to believe as it is, your Uncle Vergil, your asshole Uncle Austin and even your dad were all fifteen once, too. We know that he only had one thing on his mind, and you'd be even more upset when we killed him," I tell her. 

"And if they didn't, we would have. We've had to deal with fifteen year old boys too, once upon a time. So, just be glad he ran off before we killed him," Alyssa states, in a way that leaves no doubt that she would have killed him just as easily. Shivani doesn't dispute this claim, which leads me back to a shadow of a memory; a man clawing his own throat open as he suffocates on nothing. I dismiss it, because I've heard the story from her, and I'm not sure I want to reawaken my memories of killing a man for the first time. 

Everyone keeps talking about the events of the last year, and I let it wash over me without paying much attention to it. It's been an exhausting day, and it's finally catching up to me. Eventually, I slip away, unnoticed, and head up to my room. As I collapse gratefully into my bed, the door opens and closes and a weight settles next to me.


End file.
